Spring – A Taste For Something Floral

It’s official…as of today Spring is here.  And one of the best things about Spring is that with it comes more flowers.  I love flowers, all kinds….any place , any time and for any reason.  Yet the one place I have never enjoyed flowers is in my food.  I have never understood having the taste of anything floral in my food or beverages.  As much as I enjoy all types of tea both hot and iced, I never liked Earl Grey specifically because I think it has a very floral taste and fragrance.  To me it is like drinking perfume.  But they say over time our taste buds change and consequently what we like changes as well.  I can now attest to the fact that this is true.

A few years ago I had my first fondness for a “floral food” when I tasted rose scented lemonade and fell in love with it.  (More about that at a later time.)  Then a couple of weeks ago our darling friend, Leah Bergman, had a post on her blog, Freutcake, about lavender truffles.  Like me, Leah said she had never cared for a floral taste in her food, specially that of lavender, but found that something had changed recently for her as well.  When I read her post I made a mental note that I would have to give lavender a try in something I cooked soon.

Then just a few days later, two of my grandchildren, Sadie and Savannah, went out to collect the eggs from the chicken’s hutch and decided to pick a bunch of lavender from my garden to bring me as part of a surprise bouquet.

“You could put these in your kitchen to look pretty.  Or, maybe you could even cook with them,” they giggled.  “Well, just maybe I could,” I said.  And that got my creative culinary juices flowing.  Since I had read Leah’s post and was already in the mood to try something with lavender, I began looking through my cookbooks and clipped recipes to see if anything looked interesting that included lavender as an ingredient.  Nothing did, but I remembered that one of the things Leah had mentioned in her post was a honey lavender ice cream at one of my favorite ice cream shops, Carmela.

I already had all the ingredients and had planned to make ice cream, actually lemon ice cream, that I wanted to sweeten with some local honey I had just bought at the farmers’ market.  I decided that I could make a honey lemon ice cream that would incorporate the flavor of lavender too.  So that is exactly what I did and now you can try it too.  Lavender Scented Honey Lemon Ice Cream might just change your mind about flowers in your food…give it a try….make tweaks of your own if you want and let us know what you think.

Above all feel and taste the joy of Spring!

Lavender Scented Honey Lemon Ice Cream 

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon zest
Lavender heads, about a handful
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, pour in cream, half and half, and salt.

Add honey …

Cut the heads off the lavender stalks and add lavender to the cream mixture

and then add lemon zest.  Bring all this to a simmer.

Cool and allow to sit for at least 1 hour or preferably overnight in the refrigerator to infuse the taste of lavender into the cream.  Pour cream mixture through a sieve to strain out lavender flowers.

Beat the egg yolks until they are pale yellow and thick. This should take 2-3 minutes.  Reheat the strained cream.  Add a little of the warm cream mixture to the egg yolks and then add yolks back to the pan.  Cook until custard is thickened.  Remove from heat.  Juice some fresh lemons.

Add lemon juice and vanilla to custard mixture and pour into a bowl to cool completely.

 Refrigerate until cold and then freeze according to your ice cream freezer’s instructions.  Place finished ice cream in a container and allow to harden completely in your freezer for 2-3 hours.  Scoop and serve up a bowl of Spring 🙂